Production of stockings from reinforced warp fabric



- Jan. 12; 1943.

R, RICHTER PRODUCTION OF STOCKINGS FROM REINFORCED WARP FABRIC.

Filed Dec. 5, 1940 Riclwml fer Patented Jan. 12, 1943 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE PRODUCTION OF STOcKINGS FROM BEIN- FORCED WARP FABRIC aRichard Richter, Oberluntwitz, Saxony, Germany; vested in the AlienProperty Custodian ApplicatiorilPecember 5, 1940, Serial no; 368,596

Germany March 16, 193

2 Claims. (01. 00.40)

This invention relates to stockings provided with reinforced footportions and cut from war!) fabric, and to a method of producing same.

In the known kinds of stockings cut from warp goods having worked-inreinforcements the foot comprises two or three parts unitedby seams, de-

pending upon whether the leg together with the instep, the heel portionsand the upper toe portion is cut out as a unit to which the sole cuttogether with the lower t'oe portion from a secnd piece of goods is thenattached, or only the leg with the instep and the heel portions is cutfrom a partially reinforced piece of warp fabric and the sole and lowertoe portion as well as the:

upper toe portion constitute separate members. In both instances, thefabric from which the legs are cut is reinforced in those parts thatsubsequently are to form the high heel and heel portions. When stockingsare to be made in'which the upper toe portion is to be seamlessly unitedwith the instep or front foot portion, the leg must also contain acorresponding reinfor cing zone for this purpose. It need hardly bepointed out that on account of their bothersome manufacture these knownstockings are quite expensive, apart from the fact that the seamsrequired for uniting the various parts of a stocking are often highlyundesirable.

It is the object of the invention to overcome these drawbacks at presentfound in stockings cut from warp goods having worked-in reinforcementsby providing each of the foot portions on the sides of the instep withundivided reinforcing pieces of fabric which are seamlessly united withthe instep and cover the toe, one-half of thesole, a heel portion and ahigh heel portion ofthe stocking.

A stocking made according to the invention is therefore the equivalentof a stocking with a French foot worked on a fiat knitting frame in theusual manner, that is to say, it consists of a single piece, whereby allthe defects of the known stockings cut from warp goods are eliminated.

Into the fabric serving for the production of stockings according to theinvention a reinforcement is worked for the high heel, heel, sole andtoe of each stocking, which forms a unit, whereas in the fabric fromwhichthe leg with the instep,

, the heel ,portions and possibly the I upper toe portion of the knownstockings are cut not even the reinforcement forthe high heel, heel andupper toe portion constitutes a unitary connecting surface and thereinforced sole and lowertoe portions are not seamlessly united with theinstep or front foot portion of the reinforcement,

, for the high heel, heel and upper'toe portions.

Furthermore, the longitudinal boundaries of the reinforcingareas in afabric used for stockings according to the invention must extendnonrectilinearly, whilst the reinforcing zones in fabricwidths for knownstockings always have a rectangular or square cross section with thelongitudinal edges extending parallel to the the manufacture ofstockings from warp fabric- 'for lateral inward or outward motions ofthe reinforcing warp thread groups in addition to their lapping motions.This step is carried out also in methods for producing warp knittedgoods or stockings with French feet, though only regularly workedstockings have been made hitherto in this manner." For example, one ofthe known methods aimsto produce a regular tubular stocking on a warploom having two rows of needles and for this purpose provides forworking one-half of the stockingon each needle row in regular fashionand, by'means of the reinforcing thread groupswhich are laterally movedinwardlyor outwardly during their lapping action, causes in each half areinforcing area to be knitted which continually comprises a high heelportion, a heel portion, a sole portion and half a toe. According toanother known method of producing a regular stocking with French foot onawarp machine the procedure is such that the .warp formingthe stocking,is subdivided into several single thread groups guided on different,planes and the outer groups are correspondingly moved inwardly fornarrowing, so as to have adjacent thread groups overlap'one another. In

this case, too, the finished stocking'will have two reinforcing areas,each of which forms a connecting reinforcement for'the. high'heel, heeland sole portion and half of the toe. The two known methods mentionedhave, however, nothing incommoriwith the-method ac cording to theinvention, not'onl ,cause they v lar stockings.

refer to the manufacture of warp knitted stockings made in regularfashion, but chiefly for the reason that their application does notyield fully satisfactory stockings. According to the lastmentionedmethod for instance, reinforcementsare formed by the lateral inwardmotion of the outer thread groups, since in this way adjacent threadgroups overlap one another. It is evident that no reinforcing structurescan be produced in this manner, which will coincide with the form of thehigh heel, heel, sole and toe reinforcement of regular stockings. Theform of the reinforcements depends therefore upon how the outer warpthread groups are moved in, which is done so as to impart to the outeredges of the blank the necessary outline, since otherwise a fullfashioned stocking could not be formed. The result, however, is that theinner longitudinal edges of the reinforcements extend exactly parallelto the outer longitudinal edges of the fabric, which is at leastconsiderably at variance with the form n of the reinforcement of thefoot of regular stockings. t should also be taken into considerationthat the reinforcements of stockings made in this manner consist ofthread material t of the same kind as that of the leg. This is adisadvantage, since for reinforcing the foot portions a special threadis used as a rule.

A stocking made according to the first-mentioned known method lacksusefulness for the reason that the two halvesof the stocking are notknown at present to produce a warp knitted stocking corresponding to oneof the usual stockings with French foot made on a fiat knitting frame.The invention provides such a possibility for the first time and indoing so puts an end to the prejudice that a warp knitted stocking inorder to be like a regular stocking with French foot made on a flatknitting frame should be produced in full fashioned manner on a warpmachine. This is of special importance in view of the fact that theobject of the invention cannot be attained by regular working, but onlyby moving the reinforcing warp thread groups laterally in and out insuch manner that the reinforcements disclose the inner limitation foundin reguto the invention possesses cutting edges is absolutelyimmaterial, since it is possible to produce on a warp machine fabricswhich prevent the formation of ladders, so that the longitudinal edgesof the stocking need not be as close as the corresponding edges ofstockings made on flat knitting frames.

It may further be mentioned that the known method of producing 'atubular stocking on a warp machine is impracticable also for the reasonthat during reduction of the width of the fabric non-working of the warpthreads lying outside the outline of the stocking is to be effected bydrawing down the needles concerned. As this prevents the arrangement ofthe warp threads on a common warp beam, it would be necessary to That astocking made according provide for each warp thread a separate bobbin,etc., which is of course impossible considering the number of warpthreads that goes into the making of a stocking. Furthermore, a warpma.- chine operates economically only if several stockings can bemade'thereon side by side, so that theprovided with a reinforcedundivided piece of fabric seamlessly united with -the instep and formingthe toe Sp, one-half of the sole So, a heel portion F and a high heelportion H.

As indicated in the drawing, for producing a warp knitted fabric width Bfor the stocking a warp thread I is gathered into the lapping machine 2to form theground of the fabric into which the reinforcements H, F, Soand Sp are worked by means of separate warp thread groups 3, 4 gatheredinto separate lapping machines 5, 6. Besides for lapping, these warpthread groups 3, 4 are subjected to lateral inward and outward motionsalso in accordance with the desired form of the inner longitudinal edgesof the reinforcements H, F, So and Sp. The individual stockings are outout of the fabric worked in the manner described along the outlinesindicated by dashand-dot lines, one stocking S being horizontallyhatched in Fig. 1. ably cut from the fabric B in the usual manner, thatis, side by side and one above the other, which makes it necessary,however, to withdraw the reinforcing warp thread groups 3, 4 from theframe needles 1 from the reinforcing point of one course to that of thenext. These places are marked by broken lines in the drawing, thelapping machines 5, 6, as indicated in Fig. 2, being merely brought intothe broken line position.

As shown in the drawing, the fabric B is knitted so that the toes Sp ofthe stockings face the initial edge of the goods. The two reinforcingwarp thread groups 3, 4 are moved closely together at the toes Sp, arespread apart in the sole portions So and heel portions F, are then movedinwardly to a slight extent at the beginning of the high heel and aresubsequently gradually moved outwardly in such manner that at the end ofthe high heel-portions H they are positioned completely outside thestocking forms S to be cut out. In this way, no thread ends will beproduced at the high heel portions H by the cutting out of the floatingpieces of the threads 3, 4. Inversely, if the fabric B is worked so thatthe toes Sp of each course face the end edge of the fabric, the two 1reinforcing warp thread groups 3, 4 start their work in each course inthe high heel portions H and are then moved inwardly up to the toe Sp.To avoid thread ends at the reinforcement of the high heel portions. Halso in this case, the procedure is such that both thread groups 3, 4are in initial position outside the form S to be cut out and aregradually moved inwardly at the beginning of the reinforcement for thehigh heel portions H.

The width of the fabric B is immaterial of Thestockings S are prefer--course and could be equal also to that of a single stocking. In thedrawing, it is assumed to work the fabric B by means of awarp thread iand a lapping machine 2.

B with two ground warp threads. We claim:

l. A stocking cut from warp fabric partly reinforced by separate warpthreads, comprising a single undivided piece of fabric constituting acomplete foot portion, and a separate reinforcing piece on each side ofthe instep of the foot portion, said reinforcing pieces being seamlesslyIf a ladderproof fabric is v to be made, it will be necessary to knitthe fabric high heel portion of the stocking.

2. Method of producing warp knitted widths of fabric from whichstockings having reinforced united with the instep and extending overthe toe, one-half of the sole, 2. heel portion and a I

